Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to speak about what is perhaps the most important part of our job: serving our constituents. We all do it differently and that’s no surprise. Our ridings are each unique and different from each other. One tool that I use to do the job is social media. I use it to share information, news items, media releases, upcoming events, funding opportunities, youth exchanges and so on.
Recently, I wanted to share information about an upcoming public meeting, information previously published by the Cabinet press secretary in a news release several months ago. I wanted to verify the information before my office published it, so we contacted the government person listed on the media release to do that.
A media release is a public document, so we anticipated an easy answer, but it was not to be. Yes, my office got confirmation of the information, but we were also advised, reminded perhaps, that all requests from an MLA’s office have to be funneled through the Minister’s office so they can track the requests.
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. A request from an MLA’s office for information already in the public domain has to take the long, protracted, torturous and winding path through the Minister’s office to the department and back again, tying up many people’s time and energy, creating an unnecessary delay in determining the answer to a simple yes or no question. Hardly the best use of our government resources.
What surprised me the most about this situation was that my office had to ask the Minister for information already in the public domain, but any member of the public, like my neighbour for instance, could contact the department directly and receive an immediate answer.
There’s something wrong with this picture. I can understand a Minister’s desire to protect his departmental staff from demanding MLAs and their CAs. I can understand that sensitive and involved inquiries must be funneled through the Minister’s office, but information already in the public domain? Surely that could be provided direct from the department to the MLA. The response from ECE frustrated me considerably. I don’t believe this mindset, this policy exists in all departments, but it certainly is alive and well at ECE.
The Minister must rethink his communication and information sharing policy with MLA offices. It has
to be easy for us as elected public servants to serve our constituents, a job we are presumably sworn to do. How can we do that job well, Mr. Speaker, when we are stonewalled on the simplest of inquiries? Thank you.
